The use of water in oil emulsions for improving combustion efficiency in turbines has previously been considered. For instance, DenHerder, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,638, discusses such emulsions and indicates that the positive effects therefrom include "cleaner exhaust." Although the disclosure of DenHerder refers to emulsions containing up to about 40% water, DenHerder is primarily directed to emulsions having only up to about 10% water in the form of droplets having a diameter of about 1 to about 10 microns.
Recently, Dainoff and Sprague, in U.S. patent application entitled "Process for Reducing Nitrogen Oxides Emissions and Improving the Combustion Efficiency of a Turbine", Ser. No. 07/691,556, filed Apr. 25, 1991, now abandoned for continuation U.S. Ser. No. 07/908,536 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, have discovered that water-in-fuel oil emulsions up to about 50% water by weight are useful for reducing nitrogen oxides and particulate emissions from combustion turbines. The Dainoff/Sprague disclosure, though, is directed to those instances when the water-in-fuel oil emulsions are used as the primary fuel for the combustion turbine. They do not address those situations involving turbines being fired primarily with natural gas.